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Friday, February 6, 2015

One Way Love: Book, recommended

4.5 stars
A celebration of God's one-way love, of Jesus' death for sinners, of the good news of the gospel for all. This author understands Law and Gospel and writes to share his joy in the solid assurance we have as Christians in God's unconditional love.

Great read!

“Jesus came to release us from the slavish need to be right, rewarded, regarded, and respected. Because Jesus came to set the captives free, life does not have to be a tireless effort to establish ourselves, justify ourselves, and validate ourselves.” (36)

“If you want to make people mad, preach law. If you want to make them really, really mad, preach grace.” I didn’t know what he meant then, but I do now. The law offends us because it tells us what to do--and most of the time, we hate anyone telling us what to do. But ironically, grace offends us even more, because it tells us that there is nothing we can do, that everything has already been done. And if there is something we hate more than being told what to do, it’s being told that we can’t do anything, that we can’t earn anything--that we are helpless, weak, and needy.” (72)

“Grace generates panic, because it wrestles both control and glory out of our hands. This means that the part of you that gets angry and upset and mean and defensive and slanderous and critical and skeptical and feisty when you hear about God’s one-way love is the very part of you that is still enslaved.” (73)

“I wish I could say I do everything for God’s glory. I can’t. Neither can you. What I can say is Jesus’ blood covers all my efforts to glorify myself. I wish I could say Jesus fully satisfies me. I can’t. Neither can you. What I can say is Jesus fully satisfied God for me.” (94)

“The refrain repeated through this books is that everything we need, we already possess in Christ. This means that the what-if has been taken out of the equation. We can take absurd risks, push harder, go further, and leave it all on the field without fear--and have fun doing so. We can give with reckless abandon, because we no longer need to ensure a return of success, love, meaning, validation, and approval. We can invest freely and forcefully, because we've been freely and forcefully invested in." (188)

“The gospel is not just the diving board off of which we jump into the pool of Christianity… it is the pool that we swim in each and every day.” (JD Greear, quoted on 213)

“Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is an illusion.” Bennan Manning, (226).